How Not to Get Ripped Off on Craigslist, eBay

On the weekends, I have a hobby of fixing broken iPods. Usually they just need a little reset love or some hard disk repairs and they’re good as new. One place I find these busted iPods is Craigslist.

Over the weekend, I noticed a post for a cheap, used iPod Nano at $54. That’s a fairly low price for even a first-gen Nano, so I figured it must be broken or missing parts. I thought even if it’s not in great shape, I might be able to limp it into making a great stocking stuffer for someone, so I inquired, and that’s when the fun began.

Kiara, the seller, didn’t return my email right away. But when he/she did, he/she claimed that he/she got tired of waiting for Craigslist responses, so he/she put the iPod Nano up on eBay, where it was currently available for $54 via BuyItNow. I clicked on the link provided, and everything looked good, until I noticed it advertised the Nano as an MP3 and video player.

Video?

It’s not an iPod Nano, friends, it is a Yepo Nano, one of the many Chinese knock-offs. I emailed Kiara, and said that he/she wasted my time, and that I was flagging his/her post on Craigslist as spam. I got an email back saying some very unpleasant things about my mother and her dog, but I ignored them.

This is all something that a non-tech savvy person would have fallen for. If I’d been one of my not-so-smart siblings, I would have a Yepo Nano on its merry way to my office. So heed the warning that we’re giving to you, the reader, for as the holidays approach, you’ll see a lot more of these types of scams.